1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cryptographic support, and more particularly to cryptographic support for short operations.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a widely-used method of data encryption using private keys. There are 72 quadrillion or more possible encryption keys under the DES that can be used for protecting packets between parties over electronic networks. For each packet or message, a key is chosen at random. Like other symmetric key cryptographic methods, both the sender and receiver need to know and use the same private key.
DES applies a 56-bit key to each 64-bit block of data. The process can run several modes and includes 16 rounds of operations. Although this is considered strong encryption, many companies use triple-DES (TDES), which applies three keys in succession to each packet.
DES originated at IBM in 1977 and was adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense. It is specified in the ANSI X3.92 and X3.106 standards and in the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 46 and 81 standards.
Typically, cryptographic methods focus on large packets (greater than about 80 bytes). However, when a DES system is used for smaller packets, the performance may drop by an order of magnitude.
Therefore a need exists for a system and method of cryptographic support for DES operations which has high throughput for long (>80 bytes) and shorter packets.